Her Brother, Her Mate

Simone POV

“How are you feeling, doll?” I asked, slipping into Carli and Parker’s bedroom with her little rugrat in my arms.

She smiles lazily at me, “Tired. I know they’re trying to keep me relaxed for the baby, but being tired all the time is more tiring than not being tired, ya know.”

I giggle at her little rant. “Someone wanted to see mama,” I tell her, leaning Rosie down so Carli can grab her easily from my hands. Carli got home from the hospital this morning and Rosie had barely seen her the last few days. She usually asks for her daddy, but mama has been the name coming out of her every time she cries for the last 2 days.

“My baby girl,” Carli coos, snuggling her face into Rosie’s curls.

“Mama,” Rosie whimpers, burying her face in Carli’s chest, being still for the first time in her life as she relishes the feeling of her mama’s hold on her.

“I know, my baby. Mama is here. You can stay with mama now that I’m home.”

I fought back tears as I watched them together. How Carli could ever believe she isn’t a good mother is beyond me.

“How’s this one doing?” I asked her, rubbing her flat belly.

She sighs, looking down at my hand on her stomach with a forlorn expression.

“Good, I hope. I’m going to try and listen to Parker this time and stay home and relax. I don’t,” she bites her lips, hiding her emotion, “I don’t want to hurt the baby. I can’t.”

“You won’t, babe,” I told her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “You both are going to be fine.”

She offers me a warm smile, “Thank you for all your help the past few weeks. We were supposed to be the ones helping you, but I feel like the focus shifted to me. I don’t know what we would have done if you weren’t there to help, though. Thank you.”

This time, my tears break free, slipping down my face silently, “I didn’t feel like much help all the time. I’m just glad you’re back home and better.”

She grabs my hand and squeezes it reassuringly, “Now we can start planning your bachelorette party. I’m thinking Vegas.”

I laughed, wiping the tears off my cheeks, “Yeah, Parker will love that.”

“He’s not invited,” she says, turning her nose up in the air. This is my best friend I have missed the past few weeks. I’m glad they got her on medicine to help treat her and bring back the defiant fighter we all know and love.

“You just said you were going to listen to Parker this time!” I reminded her.

“Hey, I know you. Your wedding is going to be nothing short of royalty-level grand. It will take you MONTHS to plan, and I won’t be pregnant by the time the wedding nears.”

I roll my eyes and smirk at how right she is. Vincent and I have been talking about a wedding after I graduate from university, so we will have a long engagement. I still doubt Parker will let Carli go to Vegas without him. He wouldn’t let her go anywhere without him. I’m not going to tell her that now though.

Rosie ends up falling asleep in Carli’s arms, Carli cradling her body like she is the most precious thing in the world to her.

“How’s the planning for her party going?” She asks me, making nervousness bubble to the surface inside me. I give her a panicked look, and she tilts her head smiling sadly. “I know Mary is helping to plan it. I told Parker it was okay. I just,” he licks her lips, looking down at her daughter to brush the curls from her face, “I don’t think I’m ready to ask her directly how it’s going. I’m not ready to talk to her yet.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief, thankful that I don’t have to call Parker as she spirals down again.

“It’s going well. Mary is running with the Encanto theme since Rosie likes the music and movie so much. She even found this newer Colombian restaurant that is catering for the food, and it’s run by vampires, according to Alpha Jared.”

“Did you meet with the caterers too?” she asks.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“No, Mary is handling all that. I’m helping with the decorations and doing things from the packhouse since I can’t really leave.”

“Oh, right,” she remembers, “Any sign of Aiden yet?”

“None,” I huffed, exasperated. I want to go back to my normal life. “Vincent said something about his steakhouse, and sent men to investigate with Casey, but it turned out to be nothing.”

“His steakhouse?” Carli looks at me, confused, “Aiden didn’t eat meat. Why would he visit a steakhouse?”

I shrugged, “He didn’t say. I didn’t really ask, though.” I haven’t had the energy to. Mary keeps me and Lilly running around all day doing stuff for the party and helping to fulfill the other Luna duties she keeps trying to micromanage. Lilly has been pissed all week as her job is being taken from her.

I mentioned to Alpha Jared yesterday that Mary was getting to be a bit much, so hopefully today she goes back to just planning the party and not stepping on Lilly’s toes. He has been more stern with her than I have ever seen before. What surprises me most is that Mary is listening to him. She used to be the one who always wore the pants in their relationship. Seems Alpha Jared is slipping those bad boys on himself for a change.

“Well, I hope we find the fucker soon. I’m sure Vincent is ready to go home.”

I laughed, “He very much is.”

***

Vincent POV

I smelled it on her again. When she came back the next day, bringing her brother some gym shorts she had forgotten, I picked it up off her skin and clothes. Fairy scent.

This girl, Carlos’s sister, has had dealings with fairy b***d in the past, so I need to be sure that the scent I’m picking up on is a specific scent, and not just her falling off the wagon again. Fairy b***d is like an addiction to vampires, and it can lead to diseases and weird side effects on our part, or it can lead to death for the fae if they are exposed to too much of our venom. Humans are our natural prey, so when we alter that, it alters us in negative ways.

Carlos and his sister are weaker vampires, so there is little risk of poisoning for fairy kind, but she is still on probation after being caught by Delilah while working in her court. I also received an email from the b***d bank that she missed her last 2 appointments. I would like to know why before confronting her or her brother about it.

Even if the scent turns out to be her falling back into old habits, it could be a problem for my business since I am her employer and not monitoring her b***d intake while she is on probation. If my suspicions are correct, though, and this is in relation to Aiden….

It’s hard to tell fairy scents apart. They all have the same earthy and dirt-based scent to them, but I invited Casey over when I knew Carlos’s sister would be visiting. Dogs have a better sense of smell than bats, right?

When I told Casey that, along with my suspicions, he growled at me through the phone line, making me chuckle. He and some men have already checked out my steakhouse for me and now he thinks I’m just being overly conscious.

Casey and Cathal found the Pegasus Adrian was using dying, tied to a tree out in the swamp. They thought the animal was dead, but he stirred slightly at Cathal’s touch.

The horse is now in the fairy kingdom it needs to survive, but they still suspect the beast will die from the weeks of exertion without proper care or magic to feed on. They need magic in the air like other creatures need oxygen to survive. Because he went so long without, and likely only survived as long as he did because he had the little bit of magic Aiden expelled to tide him over, he is like a body deprived of oxygen for too long. His wings and mind will never work right again. Aiden as good as killed him, and is facing death by the fae courts if they get to him before we do.

Because Casey spent so much time with Cathal and the fairies, he is familiar with Aiden’s scent and can pick up on the notes that my duller nose can’t. My hearing may be superior to a wolf’s, but not my sense of smell. He is now hiding in my office with me while we wait for Carlos’s sister to come to drop off his clothes.

“Are you sure you aren’t just using this as some excuse to spend time with me?” Casey asks, lounging on the couch in the corner of the room and throwing a small ball left behind by Rosie up in the air. “I already got a mate, so if you’re hoping for that freaky twin sharing s**t you’re s**t out of luck.”

This man is insufferable. I try to ignore his endless, meaningless chatter to hone in on the noises outside the room. Carlos is expecting his sister any minute as she brings him more clothes after doing his laundry. There is a washer and dryer here, and omega wolves are paid to do laundry downstairs, but he still insists on his sister doing his, saying it’s how she pays rent, since he won’t charge her money.

“I mean, you’re an attractive f*****g guy and all, but I just don’t think it would work out. Plus, Courtney might be a little too okay with the whole thing, and then I would just have to kill you, you know? Then Simone will f*****g stab me with her heel like that one chick from the White Snake music video. Mom and dad will cry at mine and your funeral. It’s just not worth it, man. I’m sorry, but our love could never be.”

“Will you stop?” I huffed, “Geez, I miss you hating me.”

“Aww, is my rejection too much for you? Want to cuddle? I’ll let you feel my-”

“Shh!” I held my hand up to him, hearing Susan being let in by her brother. “She is here.”

All the joking leaves his face as he stands and pads quietly to the door to peek out. I can hear Carlos scolding her for her appearance, saying something about the sheen in her eyes, which is the first indication she has been feeding on a fairy.

“I’m not close enough to smell her yet,” Corey whispers so faintly, that even I have a hard time hearing. He lives in a region ridden by rogue vampire covens, and being the gamma, he has to deal with them most often. He is trained more than the wolves here to combat my kind. He knows how to keep a low profile when he wants to.

A mischievous glean crosses his features before his face turns to hostility, and he yells at me in a firm voice. “You will never be f*****g good enough for my sister, you prick!”

He swings the door open wide, going to leave. I guess I’m meant to play along?…

“That’s not what she was moaning to me all night,” I hissed at him, smirking when I saw the genuine irritation on his face.

“You’re so f*****g cocky. Thinking you’re all f*****g that and a bag of chips, don’t you?” he sneers, walking towards where Carlos and Susan are staring open-mouthed at our faux bickering. “What about you sweetheart? I bet you don’t think this fucker is all that great either.” Casey glides his arm around Susan’s shoulders, bringing his face down to ask the question right in her ear. She leans away from him in obvious disgust, but not before Casey gets a good whiff of her scent.

The expression on his face makes it clear what he finds. His eyes darken momentarily, and anger flashes on his features before he schools them, getting them under control. Carlos is not going to like what I have planned for his sister now.